Learn Spanish With Superman 1: Up, Up, and Away! (Learn Spanish With...) (Paperback)

by Mark Millar (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
DC Comics and Berlitz have teamed up to help comic lovers of all ages build basic vocabulary following the adventures of their favorite comic book Super Heroes. Simple Spanish words are built into the dialogue so that meaning is easily gleaned in the context of the action. Margin notes offer translation for clarification and reinforcement.

Features:
* Each language-learning book contains 5-8 stories featuring the popular DC Comics characters that have captured the imagination of kids and adults for generations.
* Hundreds of vocabulary words are introduced and reviewed in each book
* A fun and engaging new way to learn a new language

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Berlitz Guides; 1 Blg edition (December 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9812681795
• ISBN-13: 978-9812681799
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #476,128 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars You don't even have to buy it to know it's junk., January 8, 2009

By	Kef Schecter - See all my reviews

I was at the local bookstore looking for something to read in Spanish. I find novels and short stories to be tiring to read in Spanish because my level isn't all that good, but comics are considerably easier... but the only comic book I'd seen on the shelves was Condorito: La Aventura Comienza, which I already have (and is only amusing because the jokes are so bad). Then I saw one of these books and I thought, hey! Superman in Spanish! That'd be perfect! I'm not a big fan of superheroes, but I didn't care: ANY decent comic in Spanish would be great.

Then I actually opened it and my hopes were dashed: the comic was not written in Spanish. No, it was written in English, with Spanish phrases randomly thrown in! Worse, they were all easy phrases I already knew, so I wouldn't learn anything at all! (You can use Amazon's "Look Inside!" feature and see for yourself.)

This comic is only a gimmick. It might prove entertaining for somebody who is just starting to learn Spanish, but it's really not a good way to either study or review what you've learned. After all, if you want to learn Spanish, you should be reading Spanish, not Spanglish. English and Spanish don't even fit together all that well... sometimes the same sentence will be structured completely differently between the two languages. One of the big obstacles a Spanish student will have is overcoming thinking in English. Books like these do nothing to help the student understand how Spanish differs from English and might even further the misconception in the student's mind that Spanish is just English with a different vocabulary.

I just can't comprehend why they didn't just print the entire thing in Spanish in the first place. They have plenty of margin space to provide definitions, most of which is unused because they didn't use nearly enough Spanish to fill in the margins -- even though every single Spanish phrase has a definition in the margin! Even definitions like "Computadoras: computers". Gee, thanks. I never could have figured that one out.

I have a hard time believing that anybody but the most casual learner of Spanish could get any value out of this, and I think even they have better choices. Nevertheless, I decided to give it two stars instead of one, because I suppose it's very good for what it is. It's just that what it is isn't very good.